On Christmas Eve, a marathon champ and mother of two complained of shortness of breath and was rushed to a hospital where she was diagnosed with Pneumonia. However, her condition deteriorated drastically so she was placed on induced coma. Tracy Ralph from Essex ever since battled multiple organ failure and had her legs and fingers amputated.
Tracy is a keen runner and a marathon champ for years. At 34 years old, she is a mother to two sons who are ages four and 19 months. Due to complications of her Pneumonia, she developed multiple organ failure, meningitis, sepsis, blood clots and bleeding in her brain. She needed to have her legs amputated above her knee.
Brad Ralph, 37, Tracy's husband, was beside her throughout her stay in the hospital but kept their children away until his wife will be feeling better. Fortunately, she woke up from coma on New Year's Day but is still confined in the hospital's intensive care unit.
Amanda Ralph, her sister-in-law said, "'Tracy doesn't have any underlying medical conditions so this came completely out of the blue. She was suffering from flu-like symptoms just before Christmas but we thought nothing of it as it is so common at that time of year."
"The first we knew anything was seriously wrong was when she couldn't breathe and she had to be rushed to Southend Hospital in an ambulance on Christmas Eve. She's now at St Thomas's, since they transferred her there in the early hours of Boxing Day. We have been living through it, it has almost been an out of body experience, there has been no good news at all. We were close to losing her before she got transferred to London, the doctors said she might not make it at one point," she told Daily Mail.
She is still confined at St. Thomas Hospital but her doctors prefer her to be transferred to Southend Hospital anytime next week for further evaluation. However, they cannot pursue with the transfer since she is still suffering from a blood clot that has been deemed fatal.
Pneumonia is the inflammation of lung tissues caused by infection. If detected early, prognosis is usually good with just antibiotics as choice of treatment. However, complications can arise from this infection. In severe cases, it can lead to septicemia or infection in the blood that can lead to amputations. Aside from that, it can lead to coma as oxygen levels in the body decreases.
Her family has set up an appeal to help them raise money for her long-term rehabilitation expenses and prosthetic legs. So far, they have raised about £25,000 or $34,000.
Pneumonia is a preventable disease through acquiring vaccines that can help protect the body from lung infections.